African Independence Movement Essay

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The independence movements of African peoples in the late 1950s and 1960s brought massive political changes to the continent. The people of Africa were tired of being enslaved by European nations and the Europeans nations were losing control over the protesting Africans. Uprisings were occurring more frequently throughout the African colonies due to emerging leaders uniting various groups and colonies. From 1957 to 1964, 26 colonies gained their independence due to these uprisings. However, simply declaring independence from a colonizer does not sever the cultural ties between the two. The reliance of the colonized people on the motherland is still very prominent within the independent nations. Although independence brought great joy to the people, problems arose politically, financially and socially.
Arguably the biggest advocate for Pan-Africanism during the time period was Kwame Nkrumah. His ability to unite the people of the Gold Coast influenced the Gold Coast to declare independence from Britain in 1957, forming the country of Ghana. Ghana gaining independence had a huge impact on other colonized groups in the continent. Nkrumah sailed to the United States in the 1930s for education and felt inspired by African American leaders who were against opposition in the states. He returned to the Gold Coast and formed the Convention People’s Party. The political party was formed to unite the people of Gold Coast who did not want to be ruled by Britain any longer. Nkrumah’s charismatic nature helped him gain followers from cocoa farmers to women interested in gaining suffrage. He appealed to all walks of life throughout his campaign and finally became the first leader of Ghana in 1957. Under his leadership, Ghana becam...

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...fit from Belgium rule. He believed a ruler who “takes greater interest in the advancement of native society and has no axe to grind” would come under scrutiny by some but ultimately lead to a better nation.
African leaders who brought independence to their respective countries faced many adversities when declaring independence from their colonial motherlands. In order to become completely independent from colonial rulers, the newly formed countries had to adopt modern national practices from capitalism and socialism. It is then arguable that since such Western practices and ideologies were accepted, that African nations would never truly be independent. Although this was their basis for running the country, Nkrumah, Sekou Toure and Leopold and Lumumba were all fighting to promote traditions of the African people while bringing the continent into the modern world.

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